Here is your chance to buy a sorted (for the MY01 WRX) system;

http://www.i-club.com/forums/showthr...hreadid=153371

Duncan

[Edited by BugEyed - 3/2/2002 11:48:25 PM]

 

I was speaking to a colleague with a Lotus Esprit and he mentioned that he has a chargecooler on his car, so I decided to dig around a little.

After little effort I found this :-

http://www.netcomuk.co.uk/~gavinp/airwater.htm

What are your thoughts on the merits of fitting a chargecooler instead of front-mount intercooler? (*if* similar results are achieved it would be a much more cost-effective option, would it not).

ta,
Matt.

 

Why not email GavinP as well if you haven't already in case he does not see this post?

 

already have :-)

 

Mattski

The guys on i-Club have been doing this successfully for a while, although the kit is somewhat expensive.

Good luck if you choose to do it.

Duncan

Edited to pick up on a couple of your comments;

• I don't agree that a water/air intercooler would be lighter than a front mounted air/air intercooler. If you think of the mass of the extra water and water radiator (+an extra tank in some cases), the FMIC route should be lighter.
• The main benefit of the water/air route is that you don't get any extra lag that some people attribute to FMICs.
• A secondary benefit you will get is that the water/air route will provide you with cooling even when the car isn't moving forwards. This is of minor benefit on the road (although you get some heatsoak on the top mounted intercooler at lights etc), but is of significant benefit if you are doing serious drag racing (where the Guys on i-Club are doing unusual things like putting dry ice onto their top mounts and front mounts to get the best results).

[Edited by BugEyed - 2/25/2002 5:54:35 PM]

 

Matt,

Thanks for your mail.

I don't know where the lighter(??) comment came from as I find it unlikely unless you make the front mount IC out of copper or cast iron...

The coolant in my system is about six litres which adds 6Kg approx in addition to the radiator, pump, heat exchanger and hoses.

The Legacy core which replaces the air/air unit on top of the engine bolts straight onto an early car - I understand that the manifold is different on the Phase 2 engine so you would need to check that beforehand.

As the unit is almost identical in size to the early "slanted" WRX intercooler, the volume of air is very similar for an early car (probably less for a later car) and the pipework is short and direct so you are unlikely to see any additional lag.

A lot depends on your driving environment - if you live and drive in London or the South East (i.e. lower average speed) , the air/water would almost certainly be more efficient. If you live in the country or do track days, a good front mount air/air would be a better bet.

Water is a far better medium for removing heat - being able to carry away four times as much. Apparently, the transfer of heat from aluminium/water as opposed to aluminium/air is fourteen times higher which is also promising.

Unfortunately it is not all roses , you have a finite amount of water to use (unlike a powerboat) so if you are on boost for long periods, the water heats up and efficiency drops.

The other thing is that heat transfer becomes a two stage affair - first removing heat from the intake air and then removing the heat from the coolant using the front radiator. This reduces efficiency - so the advantage is reduced from the 14x...

The bigger the radiator you fit and the higher the flow of the pump you use, the quicker the coolant drops in temperature and an increase in efficiency.

Cost (excluding "detours" ) came to about £550.

If it suits your driving environment, it can work very well..

Thanks

Gavin

http://www.netcomuk.co.uk/~gavinp/airwater.htm

 

gavin, do you just use water in your cooler, i have the chargecooler as standard on my modified legacy turbo, and use pure antifreeze as it has the 'summer coolant'.

ian

 

Ian,

I use 20% anti-freeze, Redline "Water Wetter" and water - seems to work well.

The more coolant you use, the less heat can be absorbed apparently - there is some good stuff here:

http://www.redlineoil.com/redlineoil/wwti.htm

Thanks

Gavin

 

oops, thats a bugger. just read that info. looks like im gonna drain that antifreeze out then, as its not doing much good. ill just use 20% antifreeze and also water wetter as you have.
maybe ill get a few horses out of that one, cheers for that gavin!

ian

 

what amount of water wetter have you used gavin?

thanks

ian

 

Ian,

I would be interested in finding out how much of a difference it does make - I haven't tried it with a high percentage of coolant - I went on what I read from a few different places.

Apparently, 20% is the minimum required to keep the system clean and keep it from freezing up. Bear in mind that the amount of coolant does affect the freezing temperature so if you live in the North of Scotland, you may need more than the minimum.

One bottle of Water Wetter is enough for 15 litres so you will probably will need less than half the bottle. I run WW in my engine coolant as well so you could do both ?

I got the WW from Demon Tweeks - it was circa £18.

Thanks

Gavin

 

thanks for that gavin. im going to demon tweeks this week to get a boost gauge, so will get some then. did you go to demon tweeks or mail order it? reason i ask is do you live in this area?

ian

 

Ian,

No - I got mine mail order - I live about 250 miles away !

Let me know how you get on!

Thanks

Gavin

 

will do mate!

ian